Physics Commons^™

Photorefractive Thin Films And Polymers For Use In Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Cells, Steven Harris Buller

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Two classes of materials were investigated as possible replacements for the bulk photorefractive windows in inorganic-organic hybrid cells: thin films and polymers. Each material was fabricated and subsequently characterized using two different methods due to their different stages of development. The thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction while the polymers were characterized by two-beam coupling. Thin films of strontium barium niobate and potassium niobate were grown, using pulsed laser deposition, on four different substrates. It was found that it was possible to grow a thin film of potassium niobate in the correct orientation to replace a bulk photorefractive window. …